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Brant (yes, Brant!) recipe - I got it!


mazzgolf

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I'm posting this in the "Fish and Game Recipes" forum because - I GOT IT!  This actually came out good! (not "not bad" - it came out "good" !!!:acclaim:)

So on the last day of coastal, I shot a banded brant. This thing was 6 years old and from 1,700 miles away up in Canada. This bird has been around awhile and I was thinking it was gonna be tough and stinky (especially after my massive fail with my first attempt at cooking brant). 

brant-field.jpg.09ccfd83fe8db93358c66fb797a0aac8.jpg

Turns out - Brining is the key!  (as opposed to dry aging - that didn't work for me (<--understatement of the year :eek:)).

I breasted the bird out when I got home on Saturday. Both breasts went into a ziplock bag with a brine solution - I didn't measure, I just covered the breasts with water, added a bunch of salt, then added sugar and oregano (I may have added some garlic powder, I can't remember now). And I let it sit in that for days. I change the brine solution out every 24 to 48 hours.

Since this was an experiment, on Monday (after sitting in brine for 48 hours), I took one breast out and put it in another ziplock bag and poured milk in the bag, just enough to cover the meat. So it was brined for 2 days, then it started on a milk soak.

It is now Wednesday. So I had one breast brining for a full 4 days (Saturday afternoon thru Wednesday afternoon). The other breast I brined for 2 days and milk-soaked for 2 days.

I then heated up a cast iron skillet, put some oil in the skillet, and pan-fried the breasts. I didn't time it, probably ten minutes, flipping the breasts halfway through. I have a meat thermometer, I just cooked it until the internal temp was close to 165. Take the breasts off the heat, put it on a plate and let it rest for several minutes.

Came out slightly pink in the middle. Tender and very good! I didn't even use BBQ sauce, or bacon, or anything. Just ate it right out of the frying pan. 

The one soaked in milk had a slightly different flavor to it - I couldn't put my finger on it. But the difference was slight. Both came out good - I liked them both equally.

So - there you have it. At least for brant, brining (or a brine then milk soak) for at least 4 days is the key.

Will this work on merganser is anyone's guess - I'll find out next year. ;)

brant-brine.jpg.a4b8a0bb4c8d6a7a2785a451779b267e.jpgbrant-brine-milk.jpg.c27842cb29dd2a8150b132900a4d2df2.jpg

 

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  • 1 year later...

Excuse my replying to a nearly 2 year old thread, but I just took my first animal ever, and it's a brant (two brants actually... both taken in one shot!).  I'll be trying this brine recipe out, though I gotta say I've heard a lot of bad things about the quality of this bird's meat... the smell left on my hands after cleaning up the breasts doesn't have me too hopeful, either!  Only one way to find out... hope this works as well as @mazzgolf says it does!

 

 

AA3967DD-F497-4EDF-9B69-304EFB286589.jpg

Edited by wrmink
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1 hour ago, wrmink said:

Excuse my replying to a nearly 2 year old thread, but I just took my first animal ever, and it's a brant (two brants actually... both taken in one shot!).  I'll be trying this brine recipe out, though I gotta say I've heard a lot of bad things about the quality of this bird's meat... the smell left on my hands after cleaning up the breasts doesn't have me too hopeful, either!  Only one way to find out... hope this works as well as @mazzgolf says it does!

 

 

AA3967DD-F497-4EDF-9B69-304EFB286589.jpg

Congratulations!

Now, take my word for it -- brine it for days!!! 4 days minimum - 5 or 6 days if you want. And CHANGE THE BRINE every day. The idea is to leach the blood out of the flesh - having it sit in its own blood defeats the purpose. That's why you need to change the brine every day with fresh water, salt, and seasonings.

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8 hours ago, wrmink said:

Thanks!

Days, got it!  2 breasts look good, the other still have some silverskin that I was having a bit of trouble removing.  Should I be concerned about that being left on there?

Me, personally, I always clean up all fat and tough silverskin that I can when I first breast any bird (this also goes for goose, turkey, pheasant, anything). I figured while I already have messy hands and knife breasting it out, I get it all done and prepared so when I take it out to cook, I don't have to do any more clean up of fat and silverskin. I like having clean, ready-to-cook-and-eat meat right out of the freezer or brine.

That said, don't worry if you have tiny bits left on the breast. You don't want to take off too much of the edible meat trying to get every last bit of silverskin off. I guess just get off as much as you can without destroying the breast meat.

4 hours ago, MPSR said:

Brant are ok. My friend cook a merganser at my house the other night. It smelt like a Brothel.. Tasted even like one as well! 

:vomit: I've given up on merganser and won't even shoot one. Tried several times and never could get it to where it DIDN'T smell and taste NASTY. No amount of prep is going to make it worth eating IMO.

 

4 hours ago, MPSR said:

Personally I love getting Woodies the best

Yes - woodies, mallards - the dabblers are great. It's the divers you find in coastal waters that are the waterfowl cook's greatest challenge :D :cook:

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Ok, so after 5 days of brining, I took one breast out, put a little oil on it with some Montreal steak seasoning, and threw it on the grill.  I was afraid of stinking up the house, so I decided against pan-frying it.  It actually turned out to smell pretty good as it cooked on the grill.  And it tasted pretty good, too!  I got one bit of bay-esque flavor in the first bite, but the rest of it was kind of reminiscent of steak.  Happy my first attempt at game cooking wasn’t a bust!  Thanks @mazzgolf for the info!

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